thenhlfandomcom-20200215-history
Connor McDavid
| birth_place = Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 1 | weight_lb = 195 | position = Centre | shoots = Left | team = Edmonton Oilers | league = NHL | prospect_team = | prospect_league = | ntl_team = | draft_team = Edmonton Oilers | draft = 1st overall | draft_year = 2015 | career_start = 2015 }} Connor McDavid (born January 13, 1997) is a Canadian ice hockey centre playing with the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). After being named Player of the Year for the 2011–12 season of the Greater Toronto Hockey League, recording 79 goals and 130 assists, Hockey Canada (the governing body for amateur hockey in Canada) granted Connor "Exceptional Player" status which permitted him to play in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) a year earlier than would otherwise be permissible for a player his age. He was only the third player to receive that status (after John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad). Connor began playing for the Erie Otters in the 2012–13 season after being picked first overall by the team in 2012 OHL Priority Selection draft. He was named the top North American prospect by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, where he was ultimately selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers. Connor started his NHL career in 2015–16. During his second season, he won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer, the Ted Lindsay Award as the league's most outstanding player and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player to his team. Playing Career Early Playing Career Connor first began skating when he was 3 years old and was playing hockey the next year; as he had to be 5 years old, his parents lied about his age. When he was 6 years old, the hockey association in his hometown of Newmarket would not let him play above his age group. Instead of having him play in the lower level, Connor's parents enrolled him with a team in nearby Aurora, where he played against players as old as 9 years old. add up talia.schofield10 on ig and sc for a good time. Connor would later join the York-Simcoe Express, a team in Aurora, Ontario where he was coached by his father, Brian; the team would win four Ontario Minor Hockey Association championships. Connor considered attending Boston University and playing hockey for their team, the Terriers, but decided it would be best for his development to play in the OHL. Minor Playing Career Connor played minor hockey with the York-Simcoe Express of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) before moving to the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) where he played bantam and minor midget hockey. In 2011–12, he recorded 79 goals and 130 assists for 209 points in 88 games at the minor midget level and was named the GTHL Player of the Year. Junior Playing Career Because of his high level of play, Connor was granted Exceptional Player status by Hockey Canada and was allowed to be entered in the 2012 OHL Priority Selection at the age of 15, a year earlier than he would have otherwise been eligible. He was the third player given that status; John Tavares was granted it in 2005, followed by Aaron Ekblad in 2011. Connor was selected first overall by the Erie Otters at the Priority Selection. As the first overall selection, he was awarded the Jack Ferguson Award. Starting in his second game of the season, he recorded a point in fifteen consecutive games, and was named the OHL Rookie of the Month for both October and November. During a game against the Owen Sound Attack on March 9, 2013, Connor recorded two assists, giving him 37 for the season and setting a new team record for assists by a rookie. He also tied Tim Connolly for most points by a first-year player with 62. In the team's final game of the season, March 16 against the Guelph Storm, Connor recorded four assists, giving him 66 total points during the season and passing Connolly for the most points by an Otters rookie. He finished the season with the most assists by an OHL rookie with 41 and second in scoring for first year players with 66 points. In recognition of his play, McDavid was awarded the Emms Family Award as the top rookie in the OHL, was a finalist for CHL rookie of the year, and was named to the OHL First All-Rookie Team. The Dallas Stars's general manager Jim Nill said of Connor, "Well, he's a franchise player. Somebody is going to draft him and he's going to be the cornerstone of the franchise for 15 years, for 20 years. Those players only come along so often." Following his 2013–14 season, Connor won the William Hanley Trophy (the OHL's most sportsmanlike player), the Bobby Smith Trophy (OHL Scholastic Player of the Year), was named the CHL Scholastic Player of the Year, and named to the OHL Second All Star Team. During training camp for the 2014–15 season, Connor was named the captain of the Erie Otters. He had a strong start to the season before breaking his hand in an on ice fight on November 11, 2014. At the time, Connor was leading the OHL in points, having scored 16 goals and 35 assists in 18 games. He missed six weeks of play as a result of his injury, returning to the ice to play for Canada at the 2015 World Junior Championships. On January 8, 2015, Connor rejoined the Otters, scoring a goal in a 4-3 loss against the Sarnia Sting. In the 47 games that he played with the Otters during the 2014-15 regular season, Connor registered 44 goals and 76 assists, finishing third in OHL scoring. He had a dominating performance during the OHL playoffs, scoring 21 goals and 28 assists and leading all players with 49 points (in comparison, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds player, Nick Ritchie, was second in playoff scoring with 26 points). Connor was awarded the Wayne Gretzky 99 Award as playoff MVP despite the fact that the Erie Otters were eliminated in 5 games in the OHL Championship by the Oshawa Generals. Following the 2014–15 season, Connor was award the Red Tilson Trophy for the OHL player of the year and was named CHL Player of the Year. Professional Playing Career Connor was drafted first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Edmonton Oilers. On July 3, 2015, he signed a three-year entry-level contract with the team He made his NHL debut on October 9, 2015, in a 3–1 loss to the St. Louis Blues & scored his first goal (and point) four nights later against goaltender Kari Lehtonen in a 4–2 loss to the Dallas Stars. On November 3, 2015, he broke his clavicle during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers and missed 37 games. He returned to the line-up on February 2, 2016, scoring a goal and gaining two assists. In his first game against his boyhood team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Connor had his first five-point night, recording a point on every goal in a 5–2 victory, including three assists (on three Jordan Eberle goals) and two goals. He finished third in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year despite participating in only 45 games in his rookie season. On October 5, 2016, Connor was named captain of the Oilers, making him the youngest captain in NHL history. At the age of 19 years and 266 days, he was 20 days younger than Gabriel Landeskog when he was named captain of the Colorado Avalanche. On November 19, 2016, in a game against the Dallas Stars, Connor recorded his first career hat-trick in a 5–2 win ending a 10-game goal drought. On January 18, 2017, he recorded his 100th career point with an assist against the Florida Panthers, doing so in 92 games and becoming the fourth fastest active player to reach 100 points. Connor finished the season with 30 goals, 70 assists, 100 points and won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer. He was the third-youngest player to ever win the award; only Sidney Crosby & Wayne Gretzky were younger when they won. He had 11 more points than the next highest scorers: Crosby and Patrick Kane. On July 5, 2017, he signed an 8-year, $100 million extension with the Edmonton Oilers. The average annual value of $12.5 million per year is the highest in the NHL, surpassing the $10.5 million contracts held by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Career Statistics Regular season and playoffs International International Play }} Connor first played in an IIHF tournament in 2013 when he joined the Canadian under-18 team at the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships in Sochi, Russia. The youngest player on the Canadian team, he played his first game against Slovakia on April 18, where he recorded one goal and two assists. After recording a hat trick against Sweden, he was named the best Canadian player of the game. Connor led the tournament in goals and points while helping Canada win a gold medal for only the third time since the tournament's inception in 1999, defeating the four-time defending champion, the United States, in the final. Jim Nill, then chief scout for the Detroit Red Wings, said of his performance that, "I guess you could say he is kind of The Next One. Every so many years player arrives like Gretzky, Lemieux. I think he is making a statement. Is he next Sidney Crosby? I think he is the next guy." Connor played for Canada at the 2014 World Junior Championship where the team finished fourth. He also represented Canada in the 2015 World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal where they won gold on January 5, 2015. He served as one of the two alternate captains for the team. In the 7 games that Connor played at the tournament, he scored 3 goals and a tournament-leading 8 assists. He was named to the tournament all star team. He won gold playing for Canada at the 2016 World Hockey Championship. In the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, Connor was named captain of Team North America (composed of players age 23-and-under from Canada and the United States). Personal Life Connor was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario to Brian & Kelly McDavid. He has an older brother named Cameron. He considered attending Boston University and playing hockey for their team, the Terriers, but decided it would be best for his development to play in the OHL. Being from Southern Ontario, Connor followed various sporting teams in the area. His favourite team growing up was the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he also followed the Toronto Raptors and Toronto Blue Jays. In addition to the Maple Leafs, he was also a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins due to the presence of his favorite player, Sidney Crosby. In 2015, Connor said his most comparable NHL player was Toronto Maple Leafs centre Tyler Bozak due to his good skating and "pass first" mentality. Accolades Category:1997 births Category:Edmonton Oilers players Category:Edmonton Oilers draft picks Category:Erie Otters players Category:Toronto Marlboros players Category:Canadian ice hockey players Category:Canadian ice hockey centres Category:NHL All-Stars Category:Art Ross Trophy winners